Valet Reader

Forever War by Dexter Filkins

Just the other day I was driving in my car (something I rarely do) and I decided to turn the radio on (again, something I rarely do). I tuned into NPR and began listening to a story revolving around a photo that was taken in Afghanistan, by an AP photographer, of a soldier who was fatally wounded during an ambush. The photo stirred some controversy when the soldiers father requested that the AP not release the photo and the AP proceeded to do so. Ultimately the decision was made as the image displayed “the grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it.” While I will reserve my opinions on the matter it was somewhat coincidental that I was reading this book when I first heard of the controversy.

Forever War is an incredibly different and real look at the view of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from the eyes of journalist Dexter Filkins. From his account I learned more about the feelings of the peoples there than I had known prior.

Most of what we have seen on TV or read in the papers in the past years regarding these two wars has been a lot of fluff. Sure, you may have read some interesting stories, some insight into the soldiering life, perhaps an introspective look at the life of particular Iraqis and Afghanis who are civilians stuck in the middle. Filkins fills the void, or at least he did for me. He had the opportunity to speak with the whole gamut of peoples in both places and reported honestly on what he heard and saw.

His vignettes display a color and passion the likes of which we have not seen before. From observing an execution, hearing of kidnappings, feeling the mortar shells to running in shorts and being gawked at by Iraqi soldiers guarding a post. From the soccer games disrupted by the greening of a field to witnessing a soldier being killed for a photograph, Filkins provides us with an unobstructed view of what we did not know before going to war in a place with so much history, culture and life.

Now, it’d be wrong of me to deny the fact that there is a certain element of “ego” in Filkin’s writing. Nonetheless, this is easily looked over when you realize that this is a man that has been a journalist for the NY Times, LA Times and The Miami Herald and has been to and seen the worst of the worst.

Regardless of how you may feel about the wars that American soldiers have campaigned or are still campaigning in, Forever War should be mandatory reading to get an on the ground perspective of what it’s like to be there and the sentiments and emotions involved.